Let's review: They need to get it right

Major League Baseball continues to deal with its umpiring problem — a problem larger than CC Sabathia's uniform, by the way — by avoiding the most obvious solution.

R-E-P-L-A-Y.

It shouldn't be that difficult. In fact, I'd bet there's someone smart enough in MLB's office to find a way to get it implemented by the start of the World Series on Wednesday.

Take a minute — or 20 — and think about all the blown calls starting with the Twins-Tigers tiebreaker game Oct. 6. A replay official could have ruled that:

•Brandon Inge was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in that tiebreaker game.

•Chase Utley hit a ball off his leg (which means it was a foul ball) and was out rather than safe at first base on the same play in the ninth inning of Game 3 of Phillies-Rockies.

•Joe Mauer's “foul ball” down the left-field line in Game 2 of Yankees-Twins actually was a ground-rule double.

•C.B. Bucknor blew two calls at first base in Game 1 of Angels-Red Sox.

•The Angels picked a Yankees runner off second base and tagged out two runners near third base in Game 4 of Angels-Yankees.

It would have taken a grand total of maybe 10 minutes to get all that right via instant replay. But, no, baseball stubbornly clings to this idea that mistakes are part of the game.

Why? I don't get it, and neither does Padres broadcaster Mark Grant.

“I'm all for it,” Grant said when I asked him yesterday about instant replay. “When it's a crucial play that could sway a game one way or another the bottom line for me is I just want 'em to get it right.

“If I were an umpire, I would have no problem. I would want to get it right. I would rather take time to watch it, look at it and get it right, rather than make the call, screw a team and then all of a sudden you're Don Denkinger for the last 30 years.”

Denkinger, of course, is the umpire who started Kansas City's rally against St. Louis in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series by making a wrong call at first base. He's had plenty of company since, particularly this postseason.

But all baseball has done thus far is to say six veteran umpires will work this year's Series, as if experience matters. Tim McClelland has been a big league ump since 1983, Dale Scott since 1986, and they combined for three of the worst calls you'll ever see Tuesday. Why not see if Jerry Markbreit is available?

Then, just to prove it wasn't a fluke, Scott blew another call last night. Why was he even working? Same with McClelland.

“Chalk up another one,” Joe Buck said with more than a hint of disdain on Fox's telecast.

“It has been a dreadful postseason for the umpiring crews,” analyst Tim McCarver said.

That prompted an overdue discussion, with Buck saying “there's so much pressure mounting this postseason, you get the feeling something's coming from baseball.”